When five major roadwork projects are complete motorists will be able to move much more freely in and around Jacksonville, according to state transportation engineers.

The projects — centered on U.S. 17, N.C. 24 and a few major roads between — have a total estimated cost of $113 million.

The project expected to be completed the soonest, the new Buddy Phillips Bridge is on track to be finished in July, said David Candela, a resident engineer with the N.C. Transportation Department in Jacksonville.

The replacement bridge and accompanying roadwork is estimated to cost $11 million. The project hit a snag last year when the contractor filed for bankruptcy, but has been running smoothly since a new contractor picked up the job earlier this year. The project was far enough ahead of schedule at the delay that it should finish on time, according to the NCDOT.

Once complete the widened structure will allow more motor vehicles to pass through town. The new bridge is also taller, allowing for larger ships to pass beneath it.

Scheduled next for completion is work on White Street, which should be done in September.

For an estimated $13 million, the NCDOT is realigning White Street to meet Huff Drive across Western Boulevard. The project also includes the extension of White Street to Bell Fork Road to meet at an interchange for the Jacksonville Bypass. The completed work will allow for easy access to OnslowMemorialHospital and the Jacksonville Mall from U.S. 17.

Two other projects are expected to be finished in 2014: the Jacksonville Parkway and a new N.C. 24 interchange.

The parkway, expected to be done in April 2014 at a estimated cost of $28 million, will stretch from the end of the Jacksonville Bypass on Marine Boulevard to Western Boulevard Extension where a new movie theater and several restaurants have popped up, Candela said.

That end of Western Boulevard has seen and will continue to see an explosion in commercial development, according to city planners. The new parkway will allow motorists to reach that area without experiencing heavy traffic at Marine and Western boulevards, the busiest intersection in Southeastern North Carolina, according to former Transportation Board member Louis Sewell who helped to get many of the current projects in Jacksonville started.

The other 2014 project, expected to be finished in December of that year, is an interchange on N.C. 24 that will meet the new CampLejeune entrance route, engineers said.

The estimated $11 project will allow access to the new road under construction aboard base, which is part of a federal contract. The project will also see Ellis Boulevard redirected to a new signaled intersection on N.C. 24, Candela said.

Due to be finished in April 2016 for an estimated $50 million, the widening of Piney Green Road is one of the most expensive and ambitious projects the NCDOT has undertaken in Southeastern North Carolina, engineers said.

The 6.5-mile stretch of road from U.S. 17 to N.C. 24 will be a four-lane, divided highway with multiple signals and crossovers. Candela said the completed project will allow for safer travel with better mobility through the currently congested area.

OnslowCounty native Robert Crom has run his auto repair garage on Piney Green Road since 1989.

“I was operating a 14-bay shop working seven days a week employing a much larger staff than I do today,” Crom said.

He found out a little more than two years ago that his shop was in the path of the planned $50 million project to turn the winding road into a straight four-lane highway from N.C. 24 to U.S. 17.

“Knowing that the state was coming through we decided to move the business across the street onto land we already owned and reduced the workforce to my wife and three children,” the 53-year-old said.

Crom said the widening project has not had any adverse effects on his business.

“We get as much work today as we did at the previous location,” Crom said.

In addition to the five major projects the NCDOT is also repaving streets in the area and working on a traffic signal project to help with signal coordination throughout the city.